


Shipping Wars

by Jarl_Deathwolf



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Entire story told from the perspective of Tom and Sabine, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Identity Reveal, Light-Hearted, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:00:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22409830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jarl_Deathwolf/pseuds/Jarl_Deathwolf
Summary: Weredad AU where Chat Noir says just the right thing to Tom Dupain just in time to prevent his akumatization. These heartfelt words leads to Tom shipping Marichat even harder, causing friction between him and his wife, a staunch Adrienette shipper.And so starts the Shipping Wars of Tom and Sabine.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Sabine Cheng/Tom Dupain
Comments: 178
Kudos: 607





	1. Marichat

**Author's Note:**

> This fic has been sitting in my WIP folder for about a year now. I came up with it while I was watching Weredad as it aired, if that gives you a sense of how long I've been holding onto this. I even started writing it within a week of airing, but then I got caught up in daily prompts and didn't have time for it.
> 
> All that to say, I'm very excited to finally have it finished and ready for you to read! :D

“Our daughter’s boyfriend is coming over for lunch tomorrow! Do you realize - Marinette has a _boyfriend_?!” Tom was practically thrumming with energy as he zipped around the bakery, making all the necessary preparations for tomorrow. “And he’s a superhero on top of that! She’ll be safe with him. Very important, given everything that’s going on in Paris these days.”

“Don’t you think you’re getting ahead of yourself a little?” Sabine looked concerned as she took a sip of her tea. 

“Hm? What do you mean? This is great news!”

“Maybe, but remember that Chat Noir hadn’t said anything before we arrived. We have no idea what he feels about any of this.”

“So? How could he not love Marinette? What isn’t there to love about her?” He shook his head. “No, we just need to make sure that he feels welcome here. Marinette can do the rest, no problem.”

“Tom…” 

He took his wife’s hands in his and stared hopefully into her eyes. “Trust me, honey. This is going to work out beautifully.” Going back to his preparations, he continued, “I even have a few conversation starters lined up. I understand the whole secret identity thing, but there are some things we should know before things get too serious between those two.”

Sabine sighed. “I just don’t want you to get your hopes up too high. Chat Noir’s love for Ladybug is well known, after all.” She took a sip of her tea. “Besides, what about Adrien? He is a sweet boy and Marinette has been infatuated with him for ages now.”

“Well, apparently not anymore.” He shrugged his massive shoulders. “That’s not even speculation by me. I’m just going off what I heard - what we _both_ heard.”

“Sweetie, love like that doesn’t just go away overnight. Maybe it was just a heat of the moment thing? Maybe Chat Noir saved her just before we got there and-”

Arms crossed, Tom shook his head. “No way. I could practically _feel_ the love crackling in the air. If you had heard it as clearly as I did, you wouldn’t have any doubts. You’ll see when they are together tomorrow. Sparks will be _flying_.”

With another cautious sip of her tea, she replied, “Tomorrow it is then.” Placing the empty cup on the table, she rose and left the room. Already, she knew it was going to be a long day tomorrow and she needed as much sleep as she could get.

\------------------

Tom watched in horror as Marinette ran up to her room, crying. The sound of her over the top wailing seemed to come straight from her heart and shattered his own. Needless to say, the brunch hadn’t gone at all as planned. Even without turning around he could hear the sad deflating of the souffle. Sabine patted his arm consoling.

“Um… sir?” 

Tom’s eyes narrowed and one fist clenched as he turned around to the feline-themed superhero. How he even thought he was a good match for his daughter he would never know. Then he met Chat Noir’s eyes and was shocked to see genuine shame. 

“I really am very sorry about. Marinette is an amazing girl - talented and brave. Or, um-” He rubbed the back of his neck. “At least that’s the impression I’ve gotten from our few runs ins. Anyway - she’s amazing, but I love Ladybug. Sorry, again.”

“Oh, honey,” Sabine said, putting a hand on Chat’s shoulder. “Never apologize for how you feel. We don’t choose who we fall in love with.”

With a deep sigh, Tom agreed. “Sabine is right, son. I know you didn’t mean to hurt Marinette.” Tom felt sympathy for the hero when he visibly flinched at that. “She’ll feel better after some time to herself. Don’t worry, we’ll take care of her.”

Chat Noir nodded and dragged himself out the front door dejectedly. 

“Well… that’s over with. I hope you see what I meant now, Tom?” After a pause, Sabine looked back at him curiously. “Tom?”

“You know… he seemed awfully concerned about her.”

“...What?”

“And he also knew a lot about her despite having barely met her.” Tom leaned against a wall, staring off into space in thought. “She seemed to leave quite the impression on him, as a matter of fact…”

“Tom.” There was a warning edge to her voice. “No. Don’t do this. Leave it be.”

“I just think these two might really be made for each other.” Tom began pacing, his hands idly clearing the table from the disastrous brunch like so much water under the bridge. “Maybe if we gave Chat Noir more time to get to know Marinette… Oh! What if we-” He looked back at his wife and froze at the Look she was giving him.

“Did you not hear a word that came out of that boy’s mouth? He loves _Ladybug_! Besides, Marinette is in love with Adrien, in case you forgot.”

“Feelings can change. It happened with Marinette already, why not with Chat Noir? Especially after all those times he’s gotten rejected by Ladybug.”

Sabine took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Listen. We don’t know how Adrien feels, and Marinette is clearly torn between two boys. Adrien is still the best option for Marinette, at least partially because his heart is unspoken for.”

Tom crossed his arms and huffed. “We’ll just have to see how the cookie crumbles. You’ll see - Chat Noir will make a far better boyfriend for our Marinette than Adrien.”


	2. Ladrien

Tom and Sabine were sitting in the living room, watching television after a long day of work. As a result they were in a prime position to see the start of an akuma battle. Normally they didn’t watch them because everything generally got reset anyway and because they were so frequent that going out of their way to watch them would cut into their daily lives. The only difference now is that Tom insisted they watch their “future son-in-law” in action. 

Since Sabine didn’t want to just change the channel out of spite, they continued to watch the unfolding fight. It slowly dawned on Sabine that the battleground was a photoshoot, and not just any photoshoot but an Agreste brand one. Horror dawned on her when their _actual_ future son-in-law appeared briefly on screen, being chased by the akuma of the day. From what little she could tell, it was some sort of deranged fan.

It looked like Adrien was cornered. The akuma raised its arm to strike…

...only for it to hit air as Adrien was whisked away by Ladybug.

“Oh, thank goodness,” Sabine said, clutching at her chest. “That was far too close.”

“Well, would you look at that…” There was a hint of wonder to Tom’s voice that drew her back to the screen. 

Sure enough, Ladybug was still carrying Adrien, but both of them had faces as red as Ladybug’s suit. They could barely meet each other’s eyes, stealing glances at each other when one wasn’t looking. Sabine groaned and buried her face in her hands. Watching Marinette this last year had made her very aware of those looks. Tender. Soft. Blushing. Very much in love. And it seemed to be mutual. 

“You know…” Tom said, ignoring the glare Sabine was sending him from between her fingers. “Those two would make a great match for each other. After all, they’re both the golden children of Paris - they understand fame and its pressures. It’s something they can bond over. ”

Sabine scoffed. “Marinette would make a great superhero too. I bet she’d be even better than Ladybug if she was given a chance.”

“I have no doubt about it. Our daughter is the most resourceful, brave girl I know. Paris would be lucky to have her protecting them.” Tom patted Sabine gently on the back. “But hey, don’t worry! I’m sure once Chat Noir sees this, he’ll back off from Ladybug like a true gentleman. And we know how he feels about Marinette, right?”

“Tom,” she said patiently. Sometimes he got so caught up in the moment he forgot about the larger picture. “Even if she still likes Chat - and I don’t know about that since she hasn’t said a word about him since that brunch - we _do_ know that she has a crush on Adrien. Don’t you think this might leave her feeling a little broken hearted? That’s _two_ boys that she’s lost to Ladybug. And on top of that, no one wants to be thought of as the back up option.”

Immediately Tom’s face crumpled into worry. “Oh dear… I’d better make her a platter of cookies in case she needs them.”

“Cookies?”

“Of course. Haven’t you noticed that she’s been going through a lot of them recently? She’s developed one heck of a sweet tooth.” He sighed. “She’ll need some comfort food after this, I’ll bet.”

“That wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

\------------

They watched the long, grueling akuma battle until it’s very end and waited. About twenty minutes later, Marinette finally came downstairs. After exchanging concerned looked, the two of them practically jumped up and rushed to meet her. 

“Sweetie, have you… seen the news recently?” Sabine asked tentatively.

“Hm…?” Marinette looked toward her blankly, her mind clearly elsewhere. “Oh, um the akuma fight? Yeah it seemed like a rough one.”

Sabine waited for the other shoe to drop, but the poor girl just seemed so… drained, as if she had just been doing something that had sapped her energy. Crying, maybe? She couldn’t know for sure, since they couldn’t hear a thing from Marinette’s room. Her eyes were a little unfocused, like her head was somewhere else entirely. Replaying the events all over again? The poor girl was going to drive herself crazy doing that.

“Here, honeybun, we made you some treats,” Tom said as he handed the platter of cookies over to her. “Take all the time you need, and remember we’re always here to talk if you need it.”

That finally seemed to get through to Marinette and she gave them a curious look as she glanced between the plate in her hands up to them. 

Eventually, she managed to say, “Um… thanks? I’ll, uh, go back upstairs then if it’s all the same to you.”

“Of course, whatever you want, dear.” Sabine cupped her daughter’s face, pouring as much of her sympathy into one look as she could before letting go. 

“She’s a trooper,” Tom said once the trapdoor to Marinette’s room closed. “Heart shattered from watching Ladybug get cozy with Adrien and she puts on such a brave face…”

Sabine put her hand over Tom’s. “That’s our girl. Always putting other people’s happiness over her own.”


	3. Ladynoir

Sabine was not a regular visitor of the Ladyblog, despite it being her daughter’s best friend’s biggest passion at the moment. Between the news and Alya’s excited rants while she was over, Sabine felt that she had the gist of what the Ladyblog could offer already. But now? With this little feud with Tom escalating? She could use all the ammunition she could get.

Which is when she saw the latest pictures. 

Normally, Sabine wasn’t one to give much thought to gossip. So when she had been hearing that Ladybug and Chat Noir had suddenly gotten much closer, wearing their affection for each other on their sleeves, Sabine had simply rolled her eyes and considered it to be too good to be true. 

But then the Ladyblog got the pictures to prove all those rumors. They were a little grainy, of course, and it was at night, but that was when Ladybug and Chat Noir were most active. Outside of akuma battles, at least. Even with all that, it was very clearly Ladybug and Chat Noir, very clearly sharing a tender kiss on a rooftop. 

“Oh, Tom?” She called with a falsely sweet voice. “What do you think about this?” She held out the tablet that had the picture zoomed in to fill the entire screen. Tom paused in his baking to look at it curiously before his eyes widened in horror.

“No! That- You saw how Adrien and Ladybug were looking at each other! What could have possibly changed between now and then?!”

“I don’t know, love. Clearly Ladybug must have realized her feelings for her partner somehow.” She planted a kiss on Tom’s astonished face. “But after Adrien - the poor boy - sees this, he’ll realize it’s better to date someone who he actually knows the name of.” 

Tom sat down and sighed. “Poor Marinette… She’ll be crushed when she sees Chat Noir kissing Ladybug.”

Sabine’s smile froze. She wanted to say that it wasn’t true, but Marinette had undeniably been talking more about Chat Noir recently. And not just the usual praises that most people did, but practically fawning over him. Including getting very defensive on his behalf. Sabine wasn’t sure where this sudden burst was coming from, but if Tom was right… and it _did_ mean that she was fostering feelings for the feline hero… 

“Hi, papa! Hi, maman!” Marinette twirled into the room, grabbing an apple out of the basket and giving a kiss to each of their cheeks. She hummed happily to herself as she started cutting the apple into quarters. 

Sabine’s heart clenched - her daughter looked so happy. It was very likely that hadn’t even heard the news yet. How, she didn’t know. If anything, Sabine was at least sure Alya would have been gushing about it. 

“Sweetie… have you heard about Chat Noir?” Sabine’s heart clenched when she saw Marinette’s face light up in joy before she quickly hid it. It was brief, but Sabine knew what she saw there. Happiness. Affection. Love. No question about it then - not only did she have some feelings for the hero, she’d heard about him and Ladybug.

“Chat Noir? What about him?” She asked it with such innocence, but Sabine was sure she wasn’t just imagining the anguish broiling just under the surface. 

Taking her daughter into a hug, she whispered, “That’s right, dear. What _about_ him. You’ll be just fine without him.” 

She let go, Marinette looking more confused than ever as she glanced between her parents and shambled back up the stairs into her room. 

“Poor girl,” Tom said. “Did you see the look she gave the moment you mentioned Chat Noir? She still holds a candle for him, I’d bet my whole stock of baguettes on it.” As a French baker, that was quite the large gamble indeed.

“I know.” Sabine looked down at the Ladybug and Chat Noir picture she had been so smugly proud of a few minutes ago. She felt a little ashamed now as she closed out of it and turned the device off.

“Amazing though,” Tom said with a sigh. “She’s holding together really well, given what we know she has to be going through.” 

“I wish we could do something for her.”

“We’ll be here for her. That’ll have to be enough.” Tom got back to baking. “At least until she confesses to Adrien, I suppose.”

“Sooner rather than later, I hope.”


	4. Adrienette

After a couple months, it seemed like whatever relationship Ladybug and Chat Noir had was still going strong. More pictures surfaced of tender embraces and longing looks. They never confirmed anything officially, of course, but Tom had slowly come to accept that one door had been forever closed for his daughter. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but he eventually came to terms with it.

Sometimes Tom had spotted Chat Noir on the rooftops near the bakery late at night and he wanted nothing more than to flag him down and convince him the error of his ways. Tom refrained, not only because he didn’t want to interfere _that_ much in his daughter’s love life, but also because Ladybug and Chat Noir seemed to be truly in love. Who was he to get in the way of that? The romantic in him balked at the very idea of it.

For her part, it looked to Tom that Marinette was taking it in stride. There was still a spark of excitement that would come into her eyes whenever she heard Chat Noir’s name, so she clearly still held a torch for him, but her attention had shifted back to another green-eyed blonde boy. In hindsight, Tom wondered if maybe his daughter had a type.

While Tom mused over this in the back of the bakery, Marinette returned home from school, the bell over the door heralding her arrival. He could tell it was her from her light footsteps followed immediately by her bumping into one of the displays. 

“Papa? Maman? I’ve- _We’ve_ got something to tell you.”

There was a quiet gasp and his wife yelled, “Tom! You’re going to want to get out here!”

Something about the urgency in her voice drew him as much as the words themselves. When he walked into the shop section of the bakery his jaw dropped. There was his little girl… hand in hand with Adrien. They were both were sporting light blushes as they coyly avoided each other’s eyes and tried to focus on Tom and Sabine. In short, they were the very image of adorable.

Some of his excitement must have shown on his face since Marinette looked even more nervous when she glanced at him. She took a deep breath before beginning.

“So… today I finally worked up the courage to ask Adrien out and…” She bit her lip and turned to Adrien for support, which he gladly provided.

“...And I said yes. We wanted you to be the first to know. Well,” he quickly added, “besides Alya and Nino, but they were watching from the bushes so they don’t really count, right?” He glanced at the two of them nervously, as if he expected them to be offended.

Tom just laughed and put a hand on Adrien’s shoulder reassuringly. “Don’t worry, son! We’ve been hoping for this for a long time now.” Tom deliberately ignored the subtle smug look that Sabine briefly sent his way, keeping his eyes fixed on Adrien. “You know, Marinette’s talked a lot about you…”

As expected, Marinette’s blush deepened and she quickly covered Adrien’s ears. She whisper screamed, “PAPA!”

Chuckling, Tom said, “I’m just saying, I’d like to hear about the boy from his own mouth. How about we close up the shop in a little bit and chat over lunch?” He looked back at Adrien. “How does that sound to you, son?”

“That sounds awesome!” Adrien said, and Tom knew he meant it by the way his eyes lit up.

The two of them darted behind the shop, no doubt heading to Marinette’s room while they waited on lunch. After they were gone and the door closed behind him, Tom sighed and raised his hands in defeat.

“Okay, okay, sweetheart. You win. Clearly, the boy is a good fit for our little girl.”

Sabine rubbed comforting circles on Tom’s back. “I knew you’d see reason again. And don’t worry, he clearly thinks the world of her. They’ll be in good hands with each other. I’m sure of it.”

“I know,” Tom said, still thinking about what might have been.


	5. Reveal

It was late at night when Sabine woke up to the sounds of laughter drifting down from upstairs. At first she didn’t pay it any mind until a few revelations slowly dawned on her, one after another.

She groggily remembered that with the walls and ceilings between them it was hard to hear anything at all coming from upstairs. This was her first realization, which kept her from falling asleep again. Her mind struggled to come up with an answer until a cool night breeze wafted from her open window. The curiosity faded quickly - she probably just heard the laughter on the breeze carried from upstairs.

But why was Marinette on the balcony?

And why were there two voices?

This last thought catapulted her into the waking world and she quickly sat up, eyes wide as she listened carefully. While she couldn’t make out any particular words, that was definitely two voices coming from right above them. One of them had to be Marinette. But who could the other person be?

Sabine gently shook her husband while straining to make out anything that they were saying.

“Chat!” Her daughter said chidingly before giggling.

The gears in Sabine’s head came to a halt, trying to process what she heard. Meanwhile, Tom woke up beside her.

“Hurgh?” He said blearily. “What’s wrong, dear?” 

Sabine put a finger to her lips as she stood up and walked toward her bedroom door. Tom opened his mouth, no doubt to ask something else, before he heard the voices too. He blinked and got to his feet, a bemused smile on his face. Together they walked up the stairs to Marinette’s room, hesitating at the door. It wouldn’t be right to put their ear to the door, right? And they shouldn’t barge in either. But if the other person was who they thought they were then knocking might scare them off.

...Maybe just a light knock?

No response. 

Time to go charging in.

Sabine lifted the trap door and looked inside curiously. Just as she thought, no one was in the room but the skylight to the balcony was open. She started toward it as Tom followed behind.

Poking her head outside, she couldn’t help but gasp at what she saw. Chat Noir perched like a cat on the railing of the balcony, chastely kissing her daughter while she held his face. A tender moment that came to an abrupt end when the pair heard her gasp and turned around, their faces paling as they scrambled away from each other. 

As they both tried talking over each other in a desperate attempt to offer excuses, Sabine stood on the balcony and glared them both into submission. She pointed at the skylight, where Tom could just barely fit his head out. His expression was an equal mix of anger and excitement.

“Downstairs. _Both_ of you,” Sabine commanded, narrowing her eyes at Chat Noir. His cat ears flattened against his head. “I want an explanation and no more lying, do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, ma’am…” They mumbled in unison.

\---------------

Trapped between a rock and a hard place like they were, Sabine got the truth that she wanted. It was a lot more than she was expecting, but at least she could rest assured that Marinette wasn’t cheating on Adrien. Despite all the magic and secrets, thinking that her daughter was being unfaithful was the most unbelievable part of her evening.

As she listened to Adrien and Marinette sheepishly introduce their tiny floating magic friends, Sabine couldn’t quite pin down all the emotions she was feeling. Worry was at the forefront, of course. Marinette and her boyfriend fought supervillains almost daily, concern was naturally going to be up there. A quiet sense of pride that she had raised a superhero hovered in the background like the… kwami…Sabine thinks they were called? That explains where all the cookies were going at least.

Sabine couldn’t help but kick herself over the silly little feud she’d had with her husband over the last few months, though. To think that they’d argued so much over the merits of their ships, when all this time they were the same two people… Two people who, despite all odds, had managed to fall for each other twice, had found their way into each other’s hearts no matter what masks they wore.

Love was a funny thing like that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that brings this little adventure to a close! I'm glad you could join me on this journey and maybe you'll show up tomorrow when I post a new, longer story.
> 
> Hint: It is a crossover! And one that I've been wanting to do for months now. 
> 
> Hopefully, I'll see you tomorrow. And I hope you enjoyed Shipping Wars - it feels great to finally have it out of my head and into the world.


End file.
